After questioning Linda McMahon’s ideological bona fides during the Republican primary, Tom Scott, a leading conservative in Connecticut, now supports her in the race against Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. “We’ll agree to disagree on some of the cultural issues,” Scott tells National Review Online, referring to McMahon’s laissez-faire attitude toward early abortions. “But on stopping Obama’s radical agenda, she’ll be on our side. Stopping Obama motives me more than any other criteria.”

Scott thinks McMahon, who trails Blumenthal by seven points in Rasmussen’s latest poll, can win. “A lot of folks in Washington think she’s still on the B list. They’re wrong. I think in short order they’re going to see a scenario whereby Connecticut could become the 51st seat,” says Scott.

The deciding factor, he predicts, will be the debate: “If [Blumenthal] debates, he’s going to be the proverbial deer in headlights. I think Linda McMahon would cream him. On the other side, if he tries to avoid the debate, it will reinforce the idea that he’s a coward and the Vietnam lie.” A former state senator, Scott jousted with his then-colleague Blumenthal in the state legislature: “As one who personally debated him— and tied him up in knots — [I know] he’s not a capable individual in speaking extemporaneously.”

Scott joins Joe Markley, another former skeptic of McMahon, in endorsing her for the general election. “I am encouraging conservatives to embrace her candidacy to stop Obama,” Scott concludes.